Notre Dame women's basketball: McGraw lands country's No. 4 player

Notre Dame, which beat national powerhouse Connecticut three times infour meetings this season, gained a huge win in the recruiting arenawhen 6-foot-3 Taya Reimer of Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.) Fridayverbally committed to play for the Fighting Irish.

Reimer, who lives in Indianapolis, averaged nearly 19.4 points and 9.6rebounds a game as a junior for Southeastern this season.

“I knew either Stephanie Mavunga of Brownsburg or Taya was going to goto Notre Dame. It looked like Taya was going to Connecticut, so that’sgreat for Notre Dame.’’

Reimer led Hamilton Southeastern to a 20-1 record. She hit 60 percentof her shots, and connected on 59 percent of her 3-pointers(16-of-27). Reimer hit 60-of-123 free throws for 53 percent.

According to Reimer, she caught the Irish coaching staff off guardwith her decision to commit on Friday. Reimer chose Notre Dame overConnecticut, Duke, Georgia, Oklahoma, Stanford, Texas A&M and UCLA.

Reimer is the No. 4 recruit overall according to ESPN’s Hoopgurlz andthe No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2013. She joins point guardLindsay Allen of Mitchellville, Md., post Kristina Nelson of Buford,Ga., and post Diamond Thompson of Lombard, Ill.

“I’ve been trying to narrow down my list a little bit,” Reimer said.“I knew I wanted to make a commitment at least after April exposureweekend. I sat down with my Mom (Brenda) and talked about it, anddecided that Notre Dame was the place I wanted to be.

“I saw Lindsay commit and Kristina, one of my close friends, commit,so I figured, why wait. We drove up (Friday) there today and Icommitted. The coaches were really excited. I didn’t tell them that Iwas coming up to commit. I wanted to surprise them. They were prettyshocked.”

Reimer said that she had a lot of reasons for choosing Notre Dame.

“I felt really comfortable at Notre Dame,’’ she said. “I have a greatrelationship with all of the coaches on staff, and I’m really close toall of the girls on the team and a lot of the commits. The educationis great and the school is great. It’s close to home, so I can havefamily and friends come to games. Those things were really importantto me.

Hamilton Southeastern coach Chris Huppenthal said Reimer is a match-upnightmare for opponents.

“As a basketball player, Taya has developed the ability to score everyplace on the floor,” Huppenthal said. “Coach McGraw is getting a 6-3kid who can handle the ball like a guard and has the ability to goinside and score. You don’t find too many kids with her size who havethe ability to play all over the floor.”

Reimer said her versatility is a strength.

“Some schools recruited me as a guard, some recruited me as a post,”Reimer said. “Being versatile is certainly something that I bring tothe table. I probably won’t play guard in college, but I’ll be able totake advantage of mismatches.”

McCormick said Reimer will be a major presence in the Big East.

“Taya will be an impact player right away for Notre Dame,” McCormicksaid. “What can you say? That’s what happens when you come off ofback-to-back national championship games. I was thinking Connecticutwas going to run off with the Big East again with the recruitingclasses they were getting, but Notre Dame is right there with them.

“Taya is a lefty, she’s got good size, and she has guard skills. Shehas a reputation as a hard worker. Everybody loves her. Everybodywants to have her.”

Reimer’s father, Ben Davis, played collegiately at Kansas and Arizona.He was drafted by the New York Knicks, and played for the Utah Jazzand Houston Rockets.